Lille 0-0 Everton

Everton maintained control of Europa League Group H, remaining top of the group with a hard-fought 0-0 draw against Lille at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy.

Roberto Martinez made six changes from the side that beat Aston Villa 3-0 at the weekend. In came Hibbert, Distin, Besic, McGeady, Pienaar and Eto’o for Coleman, Alcaraz, McCarthy, Osman, Naismith and Lukaku.

Lille looked the more likely to open the scoring in the first half, and went closest to finding a goal in the first half when Idrissa Gueye struck wide. At the other end, Samuel Eto’o played a one-two with Steven Pienaar but lost control of the return ball in front of goal but in truth, genuine chances were few and far between.

The introduction of Lukaku just after the hour mark put some life into Everton. Within seconds of his introduction,Lukaku immediately played in McGeady for Everton’s best chance of the game, but McGeady’s effort hit Enyeama and squirmed towards goal, but was hacked away.

Everton finished the stronger of the sides, with Tony Hibbert having a shot blocked late on.

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